3rd person charged in investigation of coal exec's death
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - A third person has been charged in the death of former coal executive Bennett Hatfield.
Elsmere, Kentucky, Police Chief Timothy Thames (THAYMZ') said Wednesday that 18-year-old Brandon Lee Fitzpatrick of Louisa, Kentucky, was charged by West Virginia authorities with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Fitzpatrick was being held in the Kenton County jail pending extradition proceedings.
Police earlier charged 20-year-old Anthony R. Arriaga of Delphos, Ohio, with murder in the fatal shooting of Hatfield on Monday at Mountain View Memory Gardens, a cemetery in southern West Virginia.
Arriaga's aunt, Yolanda Arriaga-Traylor, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she doesn't believe it is in her nephew's character to commit such a crime.
A 20-year-old West Virginia man, Ricky Dean Peterson, was also charged with being an accessory after the fact, obstructing and providing false information to an officer.